Janet+Blaum


 * SUMMARY: Janet Blaum, age 37, died March 11, 1974 after an abortion performed by Sidney Knight in New Orleans, LA.**

Sidney Knight was facing a number of criminal abortion charges in 1973, when //Roe v. Wade// made them a moot point. He hung out his shingle and began performing abortions legally.

In March of 1974, Janet Lally Blaum, age 37, went to Knight's New Orleans facility for a [|safe and legal abortion]. Five days later, on March 11, she was dead of brain hemorrhage.

Janet's ex-husband sued Knight on behalf of the couple's children, alleging that Knight had administered a fatal dose of anesthesia while preparing Janet for the abortion.

As you can see from the graph below, abortion deaths were falling dramatically before legalization. This steep fall had been in place for decades. To argue that legalization lowered abortion mortality simply isn't supported by the data.



Sources: Orleans Parish Autopsy Protocol 74-3-89; Jefferson Parish Case No. 168-162 (1974)

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